Anyhow, my family is present for the holidays (yay), and my little brother wants to play some D20 (be it D&D3.5 or D20Modern). Particularly he wants to play a zombie survival campaign, so I thought I'd humor him.In the middle of statting my own second special type zombie, The Zombie Hunters came to mind. Since I hadn't done much yet anyway, I decided to put my own creations on the back burner and take a shot at the zombie types from this comic.

Disclaimers: Some creative liberties have been taken on the Zombies we've yet to see (or see enough of), but all in all I tried my best to stay as close as possible to their descriptions and in-comic portrayals.

A lot of you who already play D20M/D&D3.5 will notice that I did not mention or use the Undead creature type anywhere in the templates. This is because I felt several things the Undead Creature type grants are not consistent with this comic (IE: Immunity to Critical Hits, same Save and BAB progressions for all undead creatures, etc...) If you'd like to correct me on this, please do so. I'm always open to critiques/(nice)arguments on my work.

And of course, the Zombie types aren't mine. They belong to Jenny Romanchuk (Duh. Okay, in all honesty, this part of the disclaimer is mostly for if I copy/pasta this on another forum.) I would like to know if anyone uses these templates or modified versions of them in their games, though.

Since the zombies share a lot of traits, there's quite a bit of copy/pasta going on in this post. If you see a name in the wrong place, or an ability you don't think should be attached to a particular zombie, please tell me about it.

LEGEND?If enough people who don't already play D&D or D20Modern show interest in this thread, I'll probably post a legend to make things a bit easier to understand.

Statblocks for example zombies will come later, hopefully. For now, I hope you guys enjoy. ^_^

Crawler Template

Crawlers lose all class abilities, skills, and feats they possessed in life.HD: All hit die the base creature possessed turn into D12's.Speed: As base creature -10.Ability Scores: Strength +2, Dexterity -4, Constitution +4 Intelligence (Becomes 3), Wisdom -2, Charisma -4Base Attack Bonus Progression: 1/2Base Saves: All poor.Special Qualities:- Move or Attack only: Crawlers can only move or attack on their initiative, but not both. The only exception is that a Crawler can charge, but it only moves its normal speed instead of twice its normal speed. Natural Attacks Only. Crawlers gain a claw attack dealing slashing damage, and a bite attack dealing piercing damage, each according to the original creature's size (humans gain a 1d4+str claw attack, and a 1d6+str bite). Crawlers cannot use manufactured or improvised weaponry.- Infected(2): Any creature dealt damage by a zombie's melee attack must make a fortitude save (DC20+zombie's HD) or become infected with Virus(1). A creature infected with Virus(1) suffers no ill effects while living, other than that it gains the Infected(1) property. An Infected(1) creature that dies will rise as one of the seven types of zombie in 1d4+1 minutes; whichever zombie is determined using the table at the end of this article. Any creature dealt damage by a zombie's bite attack must make a fortitude save (DC=30+creature's HD) or become infected with Virus(2). A creature infected this way takes 1d4 constitution damage every hour. When the creature dies, it will rise as one of the seven types of zombie in 1d4+1 minutes.- Mob Grapple: The Crawler counts as ½ a combatant in a grapple when grappling with other crawlers.Special: Any creature with 6HD or more cannot become a crawler. If Crawler is rolled on the turning table (haha...), reroll until another type is chosen.Feats: All Zombies gain the Toughness feat.CR: As base creature.

Basilisk Template

Basilisks lose all class abilities, skills, and feats they possessed in life.HD: All hit die the base creature possessed turn into D12's.Speed: As base creature -10.Ability Scores: Strength +2, Dexterity -4, Constitution +4, Intelligence -4, Wisdom -2, +4 CharismaBase Attack Bonus Progression: 3/4Base Saves: Poor Fort, Poor Ref, Good Will.Special Qualities:- Move or Attack only: Basilisks can only move or attack on their initiative, but not both. The only exception is that a Basilisk can charge, but it only moves its normal speed instead of twice its normal speed. Natural Attacks Only: Basilisks gain a claw attack dealing slashing damage, and a bite attack dealing piercing damage, each according to the original creature's size (humans gain a 1d4+str claw attack, and a 1d6+str bite). Basilisks cannot use manufactured or improvised weaponry.- Infected(2): Any creature dealt damage by a zombie's melee attack must make a fortitude save (DC20+zombie's HD) or become infected with Virus(1). A creature infected with Virus(1) suffers no ill effects while living, other than that it gains the Infected(1) property. An Infected(1) creature that dies will rise as one of the seven types of zombie in 1d4+1 minutes; whichever zombie is determined using the table at the end of this article. Any creature dealt damage by a zombie's bite attack must make a fortitude save (DC=30+creature's HD) or become infected with Virus(2). A creature infected this way takes 1d4 constitution damage every hour. When the creature dies, it will rise as one of the seven types of zombie in 1d4+1 minutes.- Basilisk Gaze: Once per round, as an attack action, a Basilisk can make a gaze attack against a single target within 30ft. This target must make a will save (DC15+Charisma modifier+HD) or become paralyzed for 15+1d6 minutes. Once able to move again, the creature is nauseated for 1 minute, then shaken for the rest of the day- Blend In: Until it uses its gaze attack, a Basilisk is utterly indistinguishable from a Crawler.Feats: All zombies gain the Toughness feat.CR: As base creature +3

Berserker

Berserkers lose all class abilities, skills, and feats they possessed in life.HD: All hit die the base creature possessed turn into D12's. Creature gains 4HDSpeed: As base creature +20.Ability Scores: Strength +4, Constitution +6, Intelligence -2, +4 CharismaBase Attack Bonus Progression: 1Base Saves: Good Fort, Good Ref, Poor Will.Special Qualities:- Natural Attacks: Berserkers gain a claw attack dealing slashing damage, a bite attack dealing piercing damage, and a slam attack dealing bludgeoning damage, each according to the original creature's size (humans gain a 1d4+str claw attack, a 1d6+str bite, and a 1d6+str slam).- Infected(2): Any creature dealt damage by a zombie's melee attack must make a fortitude save (DC20+zombie's HD) or become infected with Virus(1). A creature infected with Virus(1) suffers no ill effects while living, other than that it gains the Infected(1) property. An Infected(1) creature that dies will rise as one of the seven types of zombie in 1d4+1 minutes; whichever zombie is determined using the table at the end of this article. Any creature dealt damage by a zombie's bite attack must make a fortitude save (DC=30+creature's HD) or become infected with Virus(2). A creature infected this way takes 1d4 constitution damage every hour. When the creature dies, it will rise as one of the seven types of zombie in 1d4+1 minutes.- Berserker Rage: A number of times per day equal to ¼ its HD, a Berserker may go... well... berserk. When it does, it gains a bonus to strength and constitution depending on its HD. (6-10=+4, 11-14=+6, 15-18=+8, 19-20=Why are you fighting a 20th level berserker? You poor, insane person...) for a number of rounds equal to its constitution modifier.- Frightful Presence: Berserker's inspire fear in all living beings, causing them to perform in a less than optimal fashion as long as they are near the Berserker. When a berserker comes within 30ft of a creature, that creature must make a will save (DC=5+HD+Charisma modifier) or become shaken. If a creature was already shaken and fails, it becomes frightened. This ability can only apply once per battle per creature.Special: Characters under 6HD, and characters with a Constitution score of less than 10 cannot become Berserkers. If Berserker is rolled on the turning table, reroll until another creature is selected.Feats: All zombies gain the Toughness feat. Beserkers also gain the Run feat.CR: As base creature +7

Howler Template

Howlers lose all class abilities, skills, and feats they possessed in life.HD: All hit die the base creature possessed turn into D12's.Speed: As base creature -10.Ability Scores: Strength +2, Dexterity -4, Constitution +4, Intelligence -4, Wisdom -2, +6 CharismaBase Attack Bonus Progression: 3/4Base Saves: Poor Fort, Poor Ref, Good Will.Special Qualities:- Move or Attack only: Howlers can only move or attack on their initiative, but not both. The only exception is that a Howler can charge, but it only moves its normal speed instead of twice its normal speed. Natural Attacks Only: Howlers gain a claw attack dealing slashing damage, and a bite attack dealing piercing damage, each according to the original creature's size (humans gain a 1d4+str claw attack, and a 1d6+str bite). Howlers cannot use manufactured or improvised weaponry.- Infected(2): Any creature dealt damage by a zombie's melee attack must make a fortitude save (DC20+zombie's HD) or become infected with Virus(1). A creature infected with Virus(1) suffers no ill effects while living, other than that it gains the Infected(1) property. An Infected(1) creature that dies will rise as one of the seven types of zombie in 1d4+1 minutes; whichever zombie is determined using the table at the end of this article. Any creature dealt damage by a zombie's bite attack must make a fortitude save (DC=30+creature's HD) or become infected with Virus(2). A creature infected this way takes 1d4 constitution damage every hour. When the creature dies, it will rise as one of the seven types of zombie in 1d4+1 minutes.- Howler's Cry: As a full-round action, a Howler can emit a deadly sonic wave. Creatures within 30ft must make a fortitude save (DC=10+HD+Charisma modifier) or become shaken. Creatures within 20ft who fail the save become nauseated. Creatures within 10ft take 1d4x(HD) sonic damage (which is halved if they successfully saved). This special attack can be used once every 3+1d4 rounds.Feats: All zombies gain the Toughness feat.Skills: A Berserker gains 2 skill points, plus any skill points granted by its intelligence modifier. It cannot gain less than 1 skill point per level.Its class skills are as follows: Balance, Bluff, Climb, Intimidate, Jump, Listen, Spot, and Survival.CR: As base creature +3

Hunter

Hunters lose all class abilities, skills, and feats they possessed in life.HD: All hit die the base creature possessed turn into D12's.Speed: As base creature +10.Ability Scores: Strength +2, Dexterity +4, Constitution +4, Intelligence -4, Wisdom +4 Charisma -4Base Attack Bonus Progression: 1Base Saves: Good Fort, Good Ref, Poor Will.Special Qualities:- Natural Attacks: Hunters gain a claw attack dealing slashing damage, a bite attack dealing piercing damage, and a slam attack dealing bludgeoning damage, each according to the original creature's size (humans gain a 1d4+str claw attack, a 1d6+str bite, and a 1d6+str slam).- Infected(2): Any creature dealt damage by a zombie's melee attack must make a fortitude save (DC20+zombie's HD) or become infected with Virus(1). A creature infected with Virus(1) suffers no ill effects while living, other than that it gains the Infected(1) property. An Infected(1) creature that dies will rise as one of the seven types of zombie in 1d4+1 minutes; whichever zombie is determined using the table at the end of this article. Any creature dealt damage by a zombie's bite attack must make a fortitude save (DC=30+creature's HD) or become infected with Virus(2). A creature infected this way takes 1d4 constitution damage every hour. When the creature dies, it will rise as one of the seven types of zombie in 1d4+1 minutes.- Scent: A Hunter can track creatures by scent. Whenever a Hunter tracks a creature while using its scent, it gains a +4 to the Survival check. In addition, it can spend a full-round action to become aware of all creatures within 30ft of itself (in still air. If there is wind, shift its range upwind 15ft) .- Pounce: A hunter can make a full-round attack at the end of a charge.Feats: All zombies gain the Toughness feat. Hunters also gain the Track feat.Skills: A Hunter gains 2 skill points, plus any skill points granted by its intelligence modifier. It cannot gain less than 1 skill point per level.Its class skills are as follows: Balance, Climb, Hide, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Spot, and Survival.CR: As base creature +4

Mercy

Mercies lose all class abilities, skills, and feats they possessed in life.HD: All hit die the base creature possessed turn into D12's.Speed: As base creature -10.Ability Scores: Strength +8, Dexterity +2, Constitution +4, Intelligence -4, Wisdom +2, -2 CharismaBase Attack Bonus Progression: 1Base Saves: Poor Fort, Good Ref, Good Will.Special Qualities:- Natural Attacks: Mercies gain a claw attack dealing slashing damage, a bite attack dealing piercing damage, and a slam attack dealing bludgeoning damage, each according to the original creature's size (humans gain two 1d4+str claw attacks, a 1d6+str bite, and a 1d6+str slam).- Infected(2): Any creature dealt damage by a zombie's melee attack must make a fortitude save (DC20+zombie's HD) or become infected with Virus(1). A creature infected with Virus(1) suffers no ill effects while living, other than that it gains the Infected(1) property. An Infected(1) creature that dies will rise as one of the seven types of zombie in 1d4+1 minutes; whichever zombie is determined using the table at the end of this article. Any creature dealt damage by a zombie's bite attack must make a fortitude save (DC=30+creature's HD) or become infected with Virus(2). A creature infected this way takes 1d4 constitution damage every hour. When the creature dies, it will rise as one of the seven types of zombie in 1d4+1 minutes.- Detect Illness: A Mercy instinctively knows the direction of the nearest dying creature.Feats: All zombies gain the Toughness feat. Mercies also gain the Track feat and the Improved Grappling feat.Skills: A Mercy gains 2 skill points, plus any skill points granted by its intelligence modifier. It cannot gain less than 1 skill point per level.Its class skills are as follows: Climb, Listen, Spot, Treat Injury (only used to classify targets), and Survival.CR: As base creature +4

Spitter template

Spitters lose all class abilities, skills, and feats they possessed in life.HD: All hit die the base creature possessed turn into D12's.Speed: As base creature -10.Ability Scores: Strength +2, Constitution +4, Intelligence -4, Wisdom -2, -6 CharismaBase Attack Bonus Progression: 3/4Special Qualities:- Move or Attack only: Spitters can only move or attack on their initiative, but not both. The only exception is that a Spitter can charge, but it only moves its normal speed instead of twice its normal speed. Natural Attacks Only: Spitters gain a claw attack dealing slashing damage, and a bite attack dealing piercing damage, each according to the original creature's size (humans gain two 1d4+str claw attacks, and a 1d6+str bite). Spitters cannot use manufactured or improvised weaponry.- Infected(2): Any creature dealt damage by a zombie's melee attack must make a fortitude save (DC20+zombie's HD) or become infected with Virus(1). A creature infected with Virus(1) suffers no ill effects while living, other than that it gains the Infected(1) property. An Infected(1) creature that dies will rise as one of the seven types of zombie in 1d4+1 minutes; whichever zombie is determined using the table at the end of this article. Any creature dealt damage by a zombie's bite attack must make a fortitude save (DC=30+creature's HD) or become infected with Virus(2). A creature infected this way takes 1d4 constitution damage every hour. When the creature dies, it will rise as one of the seven types of zombie in 1d4+1 minutes.Acidic Shot: Once every 1d4 rounds, a Spitter can fire a short burst of bile with a range increment of 20ft. This is a ranged touch attack, and deals 2d6 acid damage upon a successful hit. This attack can infect a creature as though the Spitter has bitten it.Acidic Douse: Once every 1d4 rounds, a Spitter can make attempt to drench a creature within 10ft of it in its digestive fluids. This attack deals 10d6 acid damage upon a successful hit. This attack can infect a creature as though the Spitter has bitten it.- Lesser Blend In: Until it spits, a Spitter difficult to distinguish from a Crawler. All spot checks against a Spitter in crowd of Crawlers take a -4.Feats: All zombies gain the Toughness feat.CR: As base creature +3

Infected Human Template

As Norman humans except for the quality below:Infected(1): Any creature that makes blood contact with a creature (IE: Dealing damage with a slashing or stabbing weapon, shooting the infected creature while adjacent to it) with this property must make a fortitude save (DC=20+creature's HD) or become infected with The Virus(1). An infected creature suffers no ill effects while living, other than that it gains the Infected(1) property itself. An Infected(1) creature that dies will become one of the seven types of zombie; whichever zombie is determined using the table at the end of this article.

Turning TableBelow is the table used to determine what type of zombie an infected character becomes after death Roll a D% to determine which type.Crawler - 1%-79%Basilisk - 80-83%Howler - 84-87%Spitter - 88-91%Hunter - 92-95%Mercy - 96-99%Berserker - 100.00%

Well this is a treat. My first time back to the forums in a while and there's a D&D TZH thread up. That just makes my day.

I haven't fully read the post yet, but I did notice something that somewhat confused me and I'd hope you would elaborate on. Generally, Undead don't have a Constitution score, what with not being alive anymore and all, and I notice you have most, if not all, of the templates as giving a +4 bonus to Constitution. Was that a mistake, or is there some part of the 3.5 Undead rule set I haven't read?

The Con boosts are intentional, mainly because zombies in the D&D ruleset are magical whereas these zombies are viral. Zombies listed in D&D don't die from headshots; they die from being ripped to pieces.So you're memory about the normal rules is correct, though I actually made a note in the post about not using the typical D&D undead ruleset.

Anyhow, these guys are also designed for games using Massive Damage rules (which are sadly not used in most games). Giving them a con score gives them a massive damage threshold, which in D20Modern is equal to the creature's con score. It also allows them to be affected by critical hits.Basically my reasoning is that massive damage/critical hits translate as headshots on the zombies, and thus have a chance of bringing them down in a single hit. The larger Con means more HP and thus harder to take out by shooting/slashing/bludgeoning the body.

I suppose I could have just stolen the sunder head rules from the Hydra, though. I could change the templates to allow for that, though I think the Berserker might still justifiably have a con score.

I kind of understand what you're saying, but I guess it just kind of jives with how I perceive Constitution. If you're alive, even being bed-ridden by incalculable diseases and broken bones or whatnot, you're still alive, and your Con is more than likely somewhere in the low single digits. Not being alive means you're not going to be affected by such things that would affect a living person (i.e. diseases), which is one of the "advantages" to using an undead character.

If you really want to give the zombies more HP, why not try utilizing a Max HD variant or something, with a cap for the different types (i.e. a 5HD Crawler gets at least 1 maxed HD, while a 5HD Berserker gets all his dice maxed).

There actually is a Massive Damage rule in standard 3.5 edition, too. It generally stand that any creature that gets hit with either half it's HP or 50 points of damage (whichever comes first) in a single blow has to make make Fort save against massive damage (I think the DC was something like 20 + 1 for every point over 50, or half your HP) or die. I think you could tweak that a bit, but like I said, this could more than likely just be me bugging out about my own concepts of the Ability scores.

I'm aware of the D&D3.5 massive damage rules. They're more designed for high-fantasy than D20Modern's variant, however.If I recall correctly, it's 50 damage from a single hit makes you roll a fort save (DC15) or die instantly.

I just remembered another reason I didn't give them the undead subtype: ability damage. I believe the undead subtype makes creatures immune to that, which I don't imagine is really the case with TZH zombies.

How's this for a re-write of the Crawler's template?

Crawlers lose all class abilities, skills, and feats they possessed in life.HD: All hit die the base creature possessed turn into D12's.Speed: As base creature -10.Ability Scores: Strength +2, Dexterity -4, Intelligence (Becomes 3), Wisdom -2, Charisma -4; Crawlers have no constitution score*Base Attack Bonus Progression: 1/2Base Saves: All poor.Special Qualities:- Move or Attack only: Crawlers can only move or attack on their initiative, but not both. The only exception is that a Crawler can charge, but it only moves its normal speed instead of twice its normal speed.Natural Attacks Only. Crawlers gain a claw attack dealing slashing damage, and a bite attack dealing piercing damage, each according to the original creature's size (humans gain a 1d4+str claw attack, and a 1d6+str bite). Crawlers cannot use manufactured or improvised weaponry.- Infected(2): Any creature dealt damage by a zombie's melee attack must make a fortitude save (DC20+zombie's HD) or become infected with Virus(1). A creature infected with Virus(1) suffers no ill effects while living, other than that it gains the Infected(1) property. An Infected(1) creature that dies will rise as one of the seven types of zombie in 1d4+1 minutes; whichever zombie is determined using the table at the end of this article. Any creature dealt damage by a zombie's bite attack must make a fortitude save (DC=30+creature's HD) or become infected with Virus(2). A creature infected this way takes 1d4 constitution damage every hour. When the creature dies, it will rise as one of the seven types of zombie in 1d4+1 minutes.- Mob Grapple: The Crawler counts as ½ a combatant in a grapple when grappling with other crawlers.Special: Any creature with 6HD or more cannot become a crawler. If Crawler is rolled on the turning table (haha...), reroll until another type is chosen.- Cranial Weakness: Sunder checks may be made against a zombie's head as though the attack targets a worn object. The Defense/AC of a zombie's head is equal to 10+4+the zombie's dexterity. A Zombie's head has a number of hitpoints equal to 1/5 of the zombie's normal hitpoints. In addition, zombies suffer additional damage from critical hits as normal creatures (as opposed to how creatures with no constitution score normally function).Feats: All Zombies gain a number of instances of the toughness feat equal to their constitution modifier in life.CR: As base creature.

True, and I don't know anything about d20Modern, so it makes sense. Is ability damage really something that Zombie Hunters would utilize, or are you more worried about the immunity to critical damage/sneak attacks? If so, just ignore that portion.

I do like the specified weakness for the zombie head, that's a nice touch. I also think you could move the text regarding the extra toughness to where you list the feat, and maybe put an asterisk next to the text on having no constitution score.

D20Modern came out slightly before D&D3.5, so it's got some really neat rules and some messy leftovers from 3.0.Essentially the same system as 3.5, but with a few tweaks here and there, such as a completely different list of classes (including generic [but fun] basic classes using some new class mechanics), massive damage values, (horrible) psionics, and no XP penalty for multiclassing.Here's the Modern System Reference Document if you want to take look.

I do think ability damage could be something the zombie hunters use. Reanimated or not, the zombie is functioning off of existing muscle. You sever it, you severely hamper its ability to move the limb. This method if delivering ability damage would require some more homebrewing, though.I suppose I'm more worried about the immunity to critical hits/sneak attacks (though the latter doesn't really show up in D20Modern that much.)

Edited the entry to make the changes you requested.

By the way. Thanks a bunch for showing interest and for the critiques. Maybe one of us will get to use these in a game sometime.

Oh believe me, the pleasure is mine. I'm always overjoyed to see a fellow RPer around with some fresh ideas. Thanks for the link to the Modern System, too, I'll be sure to take a look at it.

If you didn't already know, other people from this forum that love RP got together to make a Dedicated forum for it. Feel free to join there and show off any other ideas you've come up with. Just make sure to keep any TZH stuff here, where it belongs.